Traffic restored to Shimla, Manali

Traffic to tourist destinations Shimla and Manali, which were cut off from the rest of the state after receiving heavy snowfall, was restored Sunday, officials said.

Traffic bound for the state capital, which was disrupted at Shogi, 15 km from Shimla on the Chandigarh-Shimla NH 22, owing to snow and frost, was restored around noon, an official told IANS.

Likewise, traffic on the national highway-21, which was blocked near Patlikuhl, 20 km before Manali, was restored till Manali.

The snowfall froze the "Queen of Hills", as Shimla was fondly called by the British.

The cold weather resulted in the freezing of taps also in posh residential areas in Shimla such as the US Club and the Jakhu hills. The snowfall has brought down the minimum temperature to minus 2.4 degrees Celsius.

Kalpa in Kinnaur district, which saw 13.8 cm snow, recorded a low of minus 8.8 degrees Celsius. The temperature was minus six degrees Celsius in Manali with a snowfall of more than two feet, while it was 5.8 degrees in Dharamsala.

A spokesperson said most of the internal roads in Shimla and Kinnaur districts are still cut off due to snow. Even traffic bound for towns in Shimla district such as Narkanda, Jubbal, Kotkhai, Kharapathar and Chopal is hampered.

The spokesperson advised tourists not to venture into remote areas of the state, especially from Nehru Kund to Palchan near Manali, as chances of snow avalanche were high over the next few days.

The weather forecast said Western Disturbances - storm systems originating from Caspian Sea in Central Asia and moving across the Afghanistan-Pakistan region - has almost receded from the region and the weather would mainly remain dry in the next few days.